Annie Oakley's gun fetches $143,400 at auction

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McALLEN, Texas (AP) ? A shotgun that once belonged to Western sharpshooter and entertainer Annie Oakley sold for more than $143,000 at an auction in Dallas on Sunday.

The trove of about 100 of the icon's items headlining Heritage Auctions' "Legends of the Wild West" event brought in nearly $520,000, according to the auction house.

The items included several guns, her Stetson hat, photographs and letters. Oakley's great-grandnieces put up the items and had inherited them from their mother, who died in 2009.

One of those descendants, Terrye Holcomb, said, overall, the auction's success left her with a positive feeling, but "there's a little bit of melancholy and sadness that goes with it."

Oakley's Parker Brothers 12-gauge shotgun garnered the highest price, $143,400. Tom Slater, Director of Historical Auctions for Heritage, would not identify the gun's buyer, but said he was a private collector of Oakley and Buffalo Bill items and had purchased a number of Sunday's auction pieces.

"Annie Oakley was arguably America's first female superstar, touring the US and the world in the late 1800s and early 20th century and demonstrating her legendary Wild West sharpshooting skills," Slater said.

Oakley became famous for her marksmanship while traveling in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show. She died in 1926 at the age of 66.

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